WPF, WCF, WF, and More C# Help

By default, Visual Studio 2005 did not allow you to build applications targeted at the .NET Framework 3.0, which was out during the VS 2005 lifetime. The default install of Visual Studio 2005 was targeted only at the .NET Framework 2.0. To start working with the new technologies targeted at the .NET Framework 3.0, you had to do a few extra installs.

The targeted framework capabilities of Visual Studio 2008 allow you to build these types of applications using either the .NET Framework 3.0 or 3.5.

Building WPF Applications In Visual Studio

One good example of some of the big changes that.the .NET Framework 3.5 brings to Visual Studio is the WPF Application project type (found in the Windows category). Selecting this project type will create a Windowl. xaml and windowl. xaml . cs file for you to work from. Everything that is created by default with this project type in the Solution Explorer is presented.

Right away, the biggest change you will notice in Visual Studio 2008 is contained within the document window. The default view of the document window after creating this project is presented.

The document window has two views – a design view and an XAML view. Making changes in the design view will make the appropriate changes in the XAML view, and vice versa. As with traditional Windows Forms applications, WPF applications also include the ability to use controls that are contained within Visual Studio’s toolbox. This new toolbox of controls is presented.

Building WF Applications In Visual Studio

Another dramatically different application style (when it comes to building the application from within Visual Studio) is the Windows Workflow application type. For an example of this, select the Sequential Workflow Console Application project type from the Workflow section of the New Project dialog. This will create a console application as illustrated here with a view of the Solution Explorer.

One big change you see when building applications that make use of the Windows Workflow Foundation is that there is a heavy dependency on the design view. Looking closely at the workflow ,you can see that it is made up of multiple sequential steps and even includes actions based on conditions (such as an if-else statement) .